Chapter 1077 1077 Issue Copyright

"It's really none of our business, that's the producer's business, but... David said he knew the movie was important to you and Richard, so he wouldn't put commercial interests first. , I hope you can be satisfied with the publishers. In other words, the publishing strategies and positioning of the publishers will require your nod before we are willing to cooperate with them, so..." Rick briefly explained the situation and asked Hugo Suddenly realized.

I have to say that David Geffen is a sly old fox. The movie "Before Sunrise" only invested 2.5 million. Even if it lost everything, it would not lose much, so he didn't invest with the idea that the movie could make money, and it was more his trust in Hugo. , and hope to have a good relationship with Hugo, which is a long-term investment.

The style of "Before Sunrise" is too artistic and unique, and it is quite experimental, so it is almost impossible to achieve a sturdy success at the box office. It is a rational idea to hope that the video tape market will recover the cost. In this way, who the publisher is actually has little influence, because the transaction amount of publishing copyrights is not very high no matter what.

Therefore, David emphasized the "distribution strategy and positioning". On the surface, it seems that he sacrificed his own interests and sought the independence of Hugo and Richard, completely considering the film; but in fact, David did not Sacrificing any benefit, that is to say nothing, makes Hugo and Richard more satisfied.

The most important thing is that even if David wants to release himself, there is no way, because DreamWorks does not have a distribution department at all, so David is simply doing a favor.

Hugo's knowledge of distribution is very limited, but he knows deeply that distribution is a crucial position for a company, because DreamWorks, an independent studio that has dominated Hollywood for a decade, will eventually be forced to sell, because No distribution department support.

The so-called distribution department is a very special department. Distribution is the bridge between the production company and the theater. The main responsibilities of the distribution department are: copying, non-theater, legal affairs, finance, financial management and operations, systems and sales operations, projection business, etc. Generally speaking, it is responsible for dealing with the theater chain, responsible for the projection business with non-cinema institutions such as flights, ships, military, schools, etc., and responsible for the sales and rental business after the release of video tapes, etc. In a word, the distribution department is responsible for promoting the works produced by the production company.

Among large film companies, when a film project is approved and production begins, the work of the distribution department begins, and the pre-marketing plan must be coordinated with the publicity department to start one after another. And when the copy of the work is ready, the preview work is divided into the distribution department. Generally speaking, there are two types of preview screenings, one is for internal personnel, including company managers, directors, etc. to participate;

Likewise, screening schedules are the job of the distribution department. Last summer, the competition of "speed of life and death" in the screening schedule was the intrigue from the distribution departments of major film companies. Generally speaking, it is better to avoid the schedule. The distribution departments must test each other and formulate strategies for each other, which requires experience. A work of intellect.

Of course, for the distribution department, a very important job is to deal with the cinema. They are responsible for negotiating cooperation with major theater chains in the United States and making an agreement on the box office dividends for the release of the film. The most important issue of the ratio of benefit distribution is one of the most important tasks of the issuing department.

All in all, the distribution department is not a simple job, and the work involved is very cumbersome. In the film industry, everyone knows who controls the distribution channel and who is the real king. For the eight major Hollywood film companies, the distribution department is their biggest trump card compared to the strength and excellence of their production department.

Generally speaking, the film industry can be simply and roughly divided into four parts, production, distribution, screening, and follow-up peripherals. These four links are the core links that generate benefits, and distribution is the core that connects all these links. This has directly spawned companies corresponding to all aspects of the film industry.

At the very beginning of the birth of the film, the film company basically did it all by itself, but after the announcement of the Anti-Monopoly Act, the screening process was first divided, so major theater chain groups were born, specializing in film screening. Later, with the maturity of the film industry, professional distribution companies also appeared, or companies that started out with distribution and then joined the production ranks.

In Hollywood, due to the complex and tedious work involved in the distribution process, there are a small number of film production companies that do not have their own distribution departments. The most famous ones are Pixar and DreamWorks. Both of these two companies put all their energy into film production wholeheartedly, and cooperate with large film companies in the distribution process, which is no problem for the early development, but when the company develops to a certain stage, the distribution department will It will become a shackle to curb their further development.

Because the issuing department is the core institution that holds the initiative of its own interests.

Pixar has cooperated with Disney for many years, but after 15 years of cooperation, Disney tried to continue to limit Pixar's box office dividends, bullying Pixar's inability to build its own distribution network, and insisting that it is only willing to give Pixar 7% of box office dividends , far below the 15 to 25 percent that the industry has given studios, angering Pixar CEO Steve Jobs, who refused to continue with Disney Sign the cooperation agreement. This move indirectly led to the resignation of the "tyrant" Michael Eisner, who had been in control of Disney for more than 20 years, and then Disney's board of directors decided to directly acquire Pixar, which ended the farce.

The same is true for DreamWorks. From its establishment in 1994 to being forced to sell due to financial problems in 2005, it has created countless brilliance in the past eleven years and has become a myth of an American independent film company. However, after entering 2005, DreamWorks became a mess.

Since they don't have their own distribution department, DreamWorks' blockbusters cannot get the big bucks, because they have to give a portion of their cake to the distribution company, which is worth the lack of funds available to DreamWorks, which has led to several consecutive The work fell into a financial quagmire after a fiasco at the box office and was finally forced to sell.

Since then, DreamWorks has been forced to split into film divisions, music divisions and animation divisions, which have been acquired by different companies. But this is not the end. The DreamWorks film department is still under the leadership of Steven Spielberg. Although there are many excellent works, they have changed three cooperative companies in just three years, from Paramount to Universal. The film industry went to Disney again, and the latest news before Hugo's time travel, DreamWorks will be next with 20th Century Fox, it's like a hot potato.

It's not because the DreamWorks movies don't sell, it's because Steven is fighting with the distribution company for a 1% dividend. Just one percent of the benefit, so that Steven, the most powerful man in Hollywood, has to run around. This is the status quo of DreamWorks. To be more precise, it is the status quo of DreamWorks, which has no distribution department.

Although this is the iron law of market competition, it is still embarrassing.

At the beginning of its establishment, DreamWorks was born with a strong momentum. They aspired to become the first truly independent film studio in Hollywood - without the intervention of large consortia, to ensure self-independence, and to serve the film wholeheartedly. , animation and music services. So they pinned their dreams with words like "Dream Factory".

In fact, DreamWorks has also achieved this. During the ten years from 1994 to 2005, they were the most powerful new players in Hollywood, and they were among the "New Eight Hollywood Companies". But how did DreamWorks go silent in the end? There are many reasons, after all, the weakness of any company is not that simple, but one of the most important reasons is that there is no distribution department.

Since there is no distribution department, DreamWorks must seek the cooperation of major film companies after each production, and rely on the distribution channels of large film companies to make the work come out. In this cooperation process, the vampires who put interests first will naturally not let the little lamb of DreamWorks go, so every DreamWorks work will lose a lot of benefits. There is no distribution department, no theater chain, and no follow-up peripherals. Development, especially DreamWorks has the most profitable animation department in the United States, and DreamWorks Animation, which is enough to compete with Pixar, has no corresponding follow-up peripheral systems to create more value, and can only hand over and share with others.

DreamWorks is just a production company, and they can only share 15% to 25% of the profits that belong to the production company. That is to say, a movie creates a value of 100 million US dollars. , and DreamWorks can only get 15 million to 25 million of them, and most of them are in the distribution company, the follow-up surrounding companies and the theater chain.

So, when DreamWorks failed several major productions in a row, it was difficult for them to have cash to turn around—and they didn't have the backing of a consortium behind them. In the end, it led to the momentary DreamWorks falling into the bitter situation of being split and auctioned. After 2005, although DreamWorks continued to make excellent works, they were no longer the top players in Hollywood. They were only affiliates of large film companies. It was not until the subsequent strong rise of Lionsgate that the Hollywood pattern changed again.

Lionsgate started out as a distributor.

Although Hugo didn't know much about the details of the distribution department, he knew the importance of the distribution department to a film company, so after hearing Rick's explanation, Hugo shrugged, "I think this is unnecessary. If David's company has its own distribution department, then why should we seek cooperation? Its own distribution department simply knows itself best, doesn't it?"

Rick was taken aback by Hugo's "outsider" words. He could only explain with a smile, "Issue is not that simple..."

"I know, of course I do." Hugo nodded. "I'm just saying, if DreamWorks had its own distribution department, things would be a lot easier, wouldn't it?" If DreamWorks really built its own Distribution channel, then will history change? Hugo was suddenly very curious, why did the three bigwigs Steven, David and Jeffrey Katzenberg not consider establishing a distribution department?